Q&A: How Should I Record And Analyse My Sets?

I got this question recently when I went out to ask for Q&A ideas on Twitter:

How to best record and the process of analysing recordings of your own sets

I’m close to completing my latest product – a Patreon channel – where I’ll be putting up audio infields from my sets which led to dates last year and thought, “Hmm, how can I find an excuse for relentless self-promotion?” That led to me selecting this question for today’s post.

First of all, there’s the literal question of how to do it. I recommend getting a cheap dictaphone from Amazon (such as this one: link; this is one I recommend to students and I think it’s funny how many guys are running around London with these now). You could also use a recording app on your phone, just remember to mute the notification or download an app which doesn’t leave any trace on your home screen, or use some kind of e-watch. Then at the start of your session press “record,” put it in your pocket and leave it on for your entire session. I recommend you do this over recording individual sets because if you’re messing around with a device after each one then you’ll pull yourself out of the moment. This is an extra argument in favour of getting a dedicated dictaphone because otherwise you’ll drain your phone’s battery.

Then you can either make a note of the time you started the session and the time for any potential sets to listen to, which you can skip ahead to, or else just play the whole thing back and skip forward a minute at a time and find the set you want to listen to

When it comes to analysis, the important thing is that you don’t listen back to every single set; especially not the bad ones: you want to erase those from your memory. Usually only listen to one, maybe two sets, from each session. You don’t want to get bogged down with reliving every waking moment of your session: partly because it is tedious and you want to make this process convenient; partly because your issues are most likely the same over multiple sets. It’s better that you identify the broad issues that you’re facing rather than nitpicking.

While listening to your chosen set (or two) make notes on the things that you said which you liked. This is good practice because anything charming which you say naturally is authentic for you and can be used again in future.

Also go ahead and write down things which you could improve. This might be typical stuff like speak slower, don’t interrupt her, don’t slip into “boring mode,” upturns in your voice, getting overly excited and don’t laugh at your own jokes. In particular, try to find moments where the energy of the conversation dropped and identify why that happened: did you make a joke which was very uncalibrated? Maybe you tried to hamfist sexual topics into the conversation. Or maybe you suffered from the classic “I ran out of things to say.”

Using the recording you can see whether you got the three key pieces of information from the girl: where she’s from, what she’s doing now and what she does for a living/studies. Now think of three jokes/teases/challenges you could make on each of those topics and three get-to-know-you questions you could ask. Then one qualifying question on each topic.

The key, though, is not to be too hard on yourself and especially don’t start writing things out and thinking “I MUST remember to say this next time.” Let the ideas float in the ether and if you’re lucky they might flash into your head while in-set. Over time this will happen more often. Plus you’re better off saying something which occurs to you naturally, in the moment, even if you say it in a somewhat un-smooth manner, than her seeing the cogs turning in your head as you try to remember your “perfect tease.”

Then this is the most important thing to listen for. I’m not kidding. It is the most important thing: how does her voice sound? Is she giggly and agreeable? Is she politely talking to you but not giving herself to the conversation? How interested do you think she is? If she eventually says she has a boyfriend or wants to give you a flakey Instagram, how could you have spotted that in her earlier on in the set? Is she qualifying you? (this happens when the girl barrages you with questions in audition mode; it’s not the good kind of questions a girl asks when she’s interested and wants to get to know you). Game isn’t performed in a vacuum or on an inanimate object and so your relationship to her/dynamic with her is much more important than the exact words you say.

I hope the above helped and if you have your own infields you’d like me to analyse then we can set up a call to do so.

Yours unfaithfully,

Thomas Crown

If you enjoyed this post and want to support me in making future content then please consider buying one of my books or hiring me for coaching. Follow me on Twitter for daily updates. Click on the links below to find out more. > Follow me on Twitter > Buy the best of Thomas Crown, Volume One > Buy my memoir > Buy my texting guide > Buy my textbook > Book a coaching call > Hire me for infield coaching in the UK (London, Manchester, Liverpool, Bristol, Birmingham and Edinburgh) and the rest of Europe (Prague, Warsaw and Belgrade)